


Dad Spy, Uncle Spy?

by EchoFall



Series: DSUS? [1]
Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Angst, Dad Spy (Team Fortress 2), Father-Son Relationship, Flashbacks, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Kidnapping, M/M, Mann vs. Machine, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Panic Attacks, Past Rape/Non-con, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Torture, copious excuses to put what little french i know to good use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:14:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 20,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28043757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EchoFall/pseuds/EchoFall
Summary: the BLU Spy has been declared the ‘uncle’ of both team’s Scouts - who are also the RED Spy’s sons.But when combining familial bonds, dangerous mercenaries, and the troubled pasts of two spies, a lot can go wrong.
Relationships: BLU Spy/RED Sniper, Scout & Spy (Team Fortress 2), Sniper/Spy (Team Fortress 2), its not the main focus tho
Series: DSUS? [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2103879
Comments: 22
Kudos: 36





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> writing a summary without giving away the entire plot point is HARD
> 
> also this first chapters kinda shit but the second chapter definitely makes up for it

“Merde!”

I was on my way to backstab the unsuspecting BLU Sniper for the eighth or so time today when I was grabbed from behind and dragged around a dust-filled corner. I was pushed against a wall between two rundown shacks as a plume of blue smoke uncovered around an equally blue-clad person. The BLU Spy. 

I growled lowly, holding my butterfly knife out defensively. The BLU Spy laughed. 

“I mean no harm, mon ami. I simply have a question to ask.” At this, I cocked my head in thought. I was confused, as well as slightly intrigued. ‘Well,’ I thought to myself, ‘if he is here, then he is not backstabbing my teammates.’ This was enough reason to let the other Spy say what he wanted, I decided. 

“What is it you want to say, Espion?” I asked, looking him in the eyes. He grinned. 

“It seems you have finally told your Scout that you are his father, which leads me to ask, when do you plan on telling our Scout the same?” My eyes widened in shock. 

“I- what? How did you-“ I spluttered, not believing what I was hearing. How did he know that both of the Scouts were my sons, much less that I had told the RED Scout that he was my own?

“You are not the only spy in this war, my friend! You did not forget that we are here for the same reason, did you?” He asked, looking like the cat that caught the canary. I huffed, as I did not appreciate the secrets I thought I had hidden so well being told back to me. “You have not answered my question.” He reminded me, and at this rate it looked like the annoying grin on his face would be permanent. 

“I think you already know the answer.” I grumbled out, fed up with my counterpart. I glared at him as he chuckled. 

“It is true, I do.” He admitted, not even looking the slightest bit sheepish. 

“Then why bother asking?” I spat out.

“I am simply here to help! You will see what I am planning soon.” And with that, he quickly pulled out his revolver and shot me through the skull before I even had a chance to react. 

I woke up in respawn with a frown on my face and a new disdain for the BLU Spy. I decided I’d take this disdain out on the closest thing to my counterpart as I could: The BLU Sniper. Hopefully he had not decided to gain some intelligence and realise that being the most tunnel visioned creature alive was just making my job easier. I may even end up destroying the other team’s Labourer’s toy if I got bored enough with their Sniper. Yes, hopefully this would get rid of my annoyance. 

I grumbled as I stood up, brushing some invisible lint off of my overly expensive suit. The BLU’s words echoed around my head; just what did that blue-suited bastard have planned?

***

I thought of all the things that the BLU could possibly do in relation to what our secret conversation had been about. I hadn’t talked to anyone about what had happened, though our Sniper did mention that he thought the other Spy and I were both acting strangely today, with the Labourer backing him up. The Soldier immediately started ranting to me about something to do with ‘Europeans’ and ‘Surrender Monkeys’, whatever that meant. Fortunately, I was able to redirect his attention to Sniper by accusing the australian of fraternising with the enemy Spy. 

I was well aware that my performance today was not up to its regular standard, but this was only because I had been distracted by thinking about what my counterpart had said, which I was still doing now. 

As I pushed a few peas around my untouched plate - feeling disgust as I did so - I felt eyes upon me. The Engineer was staring at me, a concerned look on his face. I returned his stare. 

“If this is about me not eating, I swear I will-“ 

“Now, now, Boy, don’t get ahead of yourself there. I noticed that you seemed pretty distracted today, and was just wondering why?” He asked, cutting off my venom filled sentence. I frowned. 

“That is none of your business, Labourer. We all have off days, do we not?” I replied, my tone filled to the brim with anger and annoyance. He matched my frown. 

“Son, am I not allowed to care for my teammates? Last time your performance was off for the day, it was because you hadn’t-“ I slammed my hands down upon the table and stood up from my chair. 

“Not. Here.” I all but growled out, cutting him off before any of my other supposedly well kept secrets were spoken back to me today. Everyone else went silent as they looked between me and Engineer. There was an awkward pause before I sat back down, anger in my narrowed eyes. The Engineer sighed. 

“Sorry, Spah. I shouldn’t have brought that up.” He apologised, looking genuine. I remained silent for another couple seconds before opening my mouth, but before I could say anything, I was interrupted by a knock on the base door. 

If everyone was not already silent they would be now. All eyes snapped to the door as we collectively wondered who it could be. 

We knew it could not be Miss Pauling, as she did not knock like that. The thing is, though, she is the only person who should be knocking on that door. 

A bout of silence ran through the room as we exchanged glances. 

“I WILL GET THE DOOR, MAGGOTS! The Soldier yelled, breaking the inserene quiet that had formed. I was quick to stop him. 

“Soldat, sit back down. I will get the door.” He was about to loudly protest when Demo and Engie gave him a matching Look, causing him to sit back down with a pout - one that he would later deny. 

As I stepped towards the door with caution in my movements, an extremely familiar voice rang out, causing me to freeze. 

“Ees anyone going to let me in?”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Spies and the Scouts have a really nice polite chat while the rest of the RED team laughs in the background.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one is my favourite out of all of the chapters i’ve written so far

“Uh, ain’t that the BLU spook?” The Sniper asked, standing up in his place at the table. I ignored him, continuing my way to the door with a new anger. 

“What-“ I practically growled out, slamming the door open, “could you possibly be doing here?” 

The blue coated bastard didn’t even look sheepish. 

“I’m here to fix your family issues for you, mon ami, since you clearly can’t on your own.” He admitted, gesturing to the BLU Scout - who I hadn’t noticed was there until that exact moment. 

“No, you’re not.” With my rejection stated, I attempted to close the door in the odd pair’s faces. 

Keyword: attempted. 

The other, completely inferior spy was quick to hold the door open and prevent me from closing it. I glared at the stupid smirk on his stupid face. The BLU Scout looked between us with confusion evident on his features before daring to ask a question. 

“Uh. What’s going on?” He asked unsurely. My counterpart turned his attention to the Scout. 

“You will either love what happens next, or hate it, I am not sure. Either way, you will be happy to know the truth. Er, hopefully you will.” 

The Scout’s expression didn’t change. In fact, he may have been even more confused by that. 

“Wow… that was… incredibly unhelpful! Thanks, Spy,” the boy said sarcastically, an annoyed glare on his face. “Actually, why don’t you just tell me this thing that I will be so happy to know, then?”

The other BLU gave a very dramatic look, as if this was taking up all of his energy. 

“Fine, I suppose if my counterpart is going to be such a coward, then… I will have to. The RED Spy is-“ 

“Shut up! Fine, I will tell him!” I yelled in anger, acutely aware of the rest of my team watching us. I grabbed the Scout roughly by his shoulder, causing him to yelp as I pulled him into the base. 

I glared at the BLU Spy in disdain.

“You will be staying out there, we do not allow miserable fools inside of the base.” He simply smiled at me before letting himself in and closing the door behind him. 

“But, you let your Sniper come inside the base, non?” He asked sweetly. I distinctly heard our Sniper mutter something about how much he hated spies. For a second, I considered what he said. He did have a point, not that I would admit it. 

“That is besides the point, now-“ I looked back at the rest of my team and suddenly realised that this was a terrible idea. They were all sitting there, staring at me and the two BLU’s. 

Besides from Sniper, who was standing there and staring at us, of course. 

A silence filled the space for a moment, before my counterpart - who I had almost forgotten was there - apparently got bored of me not doing anything. He shoved me in the shoulder, making me stumble forward a couple steps. I turned to glare at him, wondering how this one dumb fool had so much audacity-

“Tell them already! I do not have all day!” He looked mildly irritated now. Good. He deserved it. 

I sighed in defeat before pointing at the RED Scout. 

“You.”

Everyone turned to look at him. 

“Me?” He asked, startled. I heard the BLU Spy giggle behind me. Ugh, a fully grown man. Giggling. Disgusting. 

“This one-” I pushed the BLU Scout forward slightly, “is your brother.”

Silence. 

“We. Uh.” Scout started, looking between me and his BLU counterpart, who decided to finish that thought for him. 

“We… already knew that, dude.” My team’s Scout was nodding in agreement.

“What- Then he already knows!” I yelled, facing the BLU Spy, who didn’t respond beyond a raised eyebrow. 

“Knows that I’m his bro? Yeah, obviously. We just went over this, Spy.” The RED Scout explained in an almost patronising way. 

“No! I already know he knows that, I’m talking about how he knows that I am his father-“

“WOAH wait up there, pal! You’re my dad?” The BLU Scout suddenly said, his eyes wide with shock. I looked at my Scout, my son, with a similar expression. 

“You didn’t tell him!?” I all but hollered. He - unlike the lousy excuse of a frenchman who was laughing his ass off a few meters away - at least had the shame to look fairly sheepish. 

“I. Uh. Didn’t realise..?” It was almost a question, as if he was trying to see if that was a reasonable excuse. I was astounded by the stupidity. 

Once again, silence. 

Then my counterpart started cackling behind me, as if this was the funniest thing to have ever happened in his presence. Which caused the rest of my team - besides Scout - to join in on the laughter. 

Merde.

“What do you mean you didn’t realise? How do you not make the connection that, if I am your father, and he is your brother, THEN I AM ALSO HIS FATHER!?” I yelled, furious at how absolutely fucking stupid my offspring were. 

“I DON’T KNOW, IT DIDN’T COME UP, DAD!” He yelled in response. I sighed, angrily, before realising what had been said. 

“...Did you just call me… ‘Dad’?” I asked, perfectly aware of the shiteating grin on my face. Everything froze. 

“...NO. I DIDN’T DO SHIT. SHUT UP.” His face was red with embarrassment. 

“You did! You just did!” I yelled with a cackle. 

“You may have to get your mood swings checked out, mon ami.” A cool voice sounded out, causing me to swing around and glare at the BLU Spy as I suddenly remembered what I had been mad about. 

“You…” I was furious. 

“Putain! Enfoire!“ He at least had the common sense to back away, though, unfortunately…

Not the common sense to shut up. 

“Bold words, mon ami! I am not the one who produced the two stupidest fools to walk the earth, now am I-“ 

“Woah! Calm down guys. Just chill, okay?” The BLU Scout had jumped between us with his hands out before turning to me. “He’s pretty cool actually, he’s kinda like… an uncle.” He grinned as he suddenly got an amazing idea. He turned to his brother, pointing at my counterpart. 

“This one’s our uncle now.” 

There was silence as we all waited for the RED Scout’s judgement with bated breath. Suddenly, he noticed my murderous expression and shaking head, giving him a clear idea on what answer I wanted him to say. 

“Yup.” Was, instead, what he said.

I (metaphorically) exploded. 

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN ‘YUP’?!” I yelled, causing our Sniper to sigh. 

“Could ya stop with the bloody yellin’, mate?” He’d asked. I ignored him in favour of continuing my ‘conversation’ with the Scouts. 

“I hate him! He is an embarrassment to our high class country!” I tried to reason, only achieving in making the other three laugh. 

“Nope, there’s no changing our minds. Just cause he’s our uncle doesn’t mean he’s your brother, y’know?” One of the Scouts said, I wasn’t really paying attention. 

“Now that we’ve got this settled, why don’t y’all join us for dinner? I made quite a lot tonight and there’s plenty left.” 

“We cannot just invite our enemies to dinner!” I cried, trying to make the others see reason. Most of them just shrugged, not really caring. The Soldier opened his mouth to let out a loud, headache inducing rant when Demo covered his mouth with his hand, saving our precious eardrums. 

“Yeah you can!” My blue clad son yelled out, quickly taking a seat at the table as Engie served him a bowl. I looked back at my counterpart, who was watching the Scout with a strange softness on his features. When he realised I was watching him, his smile turned malicious. 

“Well, that turned out well, non?” He asked gloatingly. 

“I suppose it did.” I admitted calmly, taking note to watch him more carefully. He seemed confused at my answer, before shrugging and taking a seat next to Sniper. They seemed to be sitting oddly close, so I scribbled out my previous mental note and decided that I would carefully watch the pair of them instead. 

I idly pushed food around my plate once more, thinking to myself. The BLU Spy was right, it seemed. It had all turned out quite well. 

Now, if things could stay that way, I would be exceptionally happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in the line “-headache inducing rant when Demo covered his mouth with his hand-“ i forgot to write the word hand at first so it would imply that demo covered sollys mouth with his own. a kiss. they would have kissed without me meaning to make them.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Filler fluff but also plot development. Besides from the tea party. idk why i wrote that.

The BLUs had returned to their base after dinner, with the Scouts actually hugging before they parted. It was strange, as no one had realised how familial the pair acted. Hell, half the team didn’t even know they were brothers!

‘Still,’ the RED team thought to themselves, ‘we have to fight them tomorrow. I wonder how that will go?’ 

Needless to say, the battle the next day was… interesting, to say the least.

*** 

“Hey, BLU!” The RED Scout yelled at his counterpart, who was taking a short break from the battle. Neither team had been able to capture the others intelligence yet, the burning sun getting to them. 

“Y’know ya can just call me Jack, right?”

“Yeah, yeah, whatevah- are we even allowed to call each other by our names?” 

“I dunno. What’s the worst that can happen?”

“The Administrator could fire us!” 

“If she was gonna fire us, she’d do it just for us talkin’ to each other.” 

“Eh, you’re right, I guess. Anyways, see ya, Jack!”

“G’bye, JerBear!” 

“Wha- hey! Don’t call me that, chucklenuts!”

“Ain’t ya going?”

“Yeah, I am, now shut it!”

“Fine, sorry about calling you JerBear, JerBear!” 

“Gah- You little-“ Jeremy - the RED Scout - tackled his brother, Jack, to the ground, where they wrestled until the RED Soldier came by and yelled at them. 

*** 

“My sentry! Pyro, help! There’s a… spah… round here...” RED’s Engineer trailed off as he saw Pyro and the enemy Spy having what looked to be a tea party, his sentry lying in pieces on the ground. 

“What in Sam Hill do you two think you’re doing?” He asked, exasperation clear on his face. The pair looked up from the light snacks and fancy tea cups in front of them. 

“Rrngie! jmmn ns!” The Pyro called out to the Engineer, waving his arms and gesturing to join him and the Spy. 

“Fine, I’ll join y’all’s little tea party.” He sighed, happy that at least his dispenser was still up and running. 

“Sorry about zhe sentry, mon ami, I could not have it shooting at me.” The Spy apologised as the Engineer approached. 

“I guess it’s fine, you backstabbing snake.” He insulted with no real venom in his voice. The Spy was about to reply when he was cut off by a battle cry. 

“AAAAHHhhhh… huh?” The BLU Demoman had ran around the corner, sticky launcher at the ready to destroy the already very dead sentry. There was silence as he stared at the trio. 

Pyro started clapping. 

“Uh, howdy?” 

“Care to join us, mon ami?”

Demo continued to stare briefly, before eventually forming a sentence. 

“I’m just gonna…” He - like Engie had - trailed off, pointing towards where he had come from. Engie looked at the BLU and the RED on either side of him then back at Demo. 

“It’s probably for the best, Son.”

The Demoman nodded unsurely as he slowly walked backwards before bolting away and yelling for Soldier. 

*** 

The RED Spy snuck up behind the Sniper, as per a usual day. The only difference was that, this time, it was his own team’s Sniper. He had watched his counterpart sneak up to his nest and so he - true to his plans from last night - followed him up. 

He had watched as his counterpart announced his arrival to the Sniper, instead of severing his spine with the sharpened blade of a butterfly knife. The soft grin in his face really not helping the case he didn’t know he was currently making 

Stood still in a corner, the RED Spy watched the pair. 

“Hello, mon cher.” 

“Huh? Oh, hello Spook.” 

“What has made you so distracted?”

“My job. Y’know, the thing you’re supposed ta be right about now?” 

“You are a terrible liar, bushman.” 

The rifle in Sniper’s hands was lowered with a sigh. 

“What’s with all the nicknames?”

“Do not try and deflect the conversation. It’s about last night, isn’t it, mon cher?”

“You already used that one, mate, but yeah, it is. Don’t feel too heartbroken, your teams Scout still likes you more than the bastard spook on my team.”

“Oui, I am sure.” 

“Ya don’t sound so sure, Spook.” 

The unseen Spy hidden behind the pair watched as the Sniper pulled the enemy Spy into a loose hug, before he snuck away to go do his job of backstabbing his enemies, vowing to ‘research’ this a bit more in the following days. 

***

“Hey, Spy! Spy!” The RED Spy turned at the sound of a Scout calling him. He expected it to be his red coloured gremlin, but it instead turned out to be his blue coloured gremlin. Interesting. 

“Yes, Jack? I am allowed to call you that, non?” He asked, peering down at his slightly shorter son. 

“Yeah, sure, whatevah-“ he had been noticing just how many similarities between the Scouts there were ever since he had realised that his twin sons were hired to fight against each other “ya can call me that.”

“What is it you want?” He didn’t want to seem too rude, but he also had things to do. 

“Uhh, I just wanna ask, can I call ya dad?” The Spy froze still, causing the Scout to also have to stop walking. 

“You truly want to?” He asked in shock. 

“Uhh, yeah? You are my dad after all.”

“...Your brother does not call me dad.”

“He did last night!” 

“Well, that was the first time, and I assume it will be a one off experience.”

“Huh.”

“I would not be offended if you called me dad I suppose.”

“Aw, thanks, dad!” His heart swelled, this is what he had been hoping for. 

“...Though I would prefer ‘pere’”

Scout made a face. 

“Nah, I draw the line at your fancy french bullshit, frog.”

“Do not call it that.”

“What are you gonna do? Stop me? I’m faster than you!”

“Tch. Don’t you have a job to do, Jack?”

“Hey, you also have shit to do!”

“Yes, and I was doing that before you turned up and started yapping at me!”

“I don’t yap. Also, fine! See ya later, Dad!”

He smiled faintly as his son ran off to die repeatedly in battle while attempting to kill the Spy’s teammates. 

“...Goodbye, son.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you guys might want to research cerebus syndrome before the next chapter. 
> 
> if you come from tumblr or seen the other stuff i’ve written, you’ll know im physically incapable of not writing angst.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> did you read the notes of last chapter? cause this is really where shit starts to go down. 
> 
> also, read the tags.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i told you, i just can’t write anything not angst.

The RED Medic spun around as the BLU Spy decloaked behind him. 

“Ah, mein freund! Come to my office after the battle is over.” The Spy looked confused as he stared at the Medic, his knife raised in a failed stabbing attempt. 

“Have you hit your head? I am not your Spy.” 

“Ja, I know, I need to tell you und your RED counterpart somezhing - it is important.” He said with urgency in his hushed tone. The RED Heavy, after noticing that his precious ‘Doktor’ was no longer healing him, turned to look at the pair. 

“What is going on?” He asked, a frown appearing on his face. 

“Do not worry about it, Herr Heavy. Zhe Spy will be gone in a second. I just needed to tell him somezhing.” Medic explained even as Heavy looked between the two in suspicion. 

“Hmph. Better be.” He muttered before turning back to the battle, resuming his task of mowing down equally hapless and hopeless BLUs. 

“That will be all, docteur?” 

“Ja, ja, now you may go, Herr BLU.”

“...Alright. I will see you later, I suppose.” Spy said with light trepidation in his voice. He turned and cloaked, walking away from the Medic, who immediately continued to heal the already tank like Heavy. 

Unfortunately, a loud explosion from a rocket shot by the BLU Soldier was the cause of both of the pair missing the quiet hiss of a decloaking spy behind him once again. 

As Medic woke up in RED’s respawn 15 minutes late with a pain in his upper spine and the knowledge the Heavy would be soon on his way, he sighed. 

“I should have expected that.” A chuckle sounded out from deeper into the room, causing the unsuspecting Medic - who hadn’t thought anyone was in the room - to jump slightly. 

“Yeah, ya probably should’ve, doc. Bloody Spies…” He trailed off a small smile forming on his face. The Medic took note of that somewhat telling smile as he turned to the Sniper. 

“What are you doing in here, Herr Sniper?” He asked. No matter how crazy his teammates thought he was - nor how scared of him they were - was going to stop him from caring for them or doing his job as a medic. 

“Just a bit of a cold, I think” The Sniper admitted, rubbing the back of his head. The Medic considered this, rubbing his chin with a red gloved hand. 

“Come by zhe infirmary after zhe battle today. You will have to be quick, though.” Sniper perked up at that. 

“Oh! I heard ya talking to the spook as I was on my way over here. I asked what all that was about and he didn’t know-“ He quickly cut himself off as he realised what he had just said. 

“You talked to zhe BLU Spy?” I asked, a grin creeping up on my face. 

“Uh. No?” He tried. The ‘Oh Shit’ expression on his face was perfect. 

“Don’t worry, mein freund, I will not tell a soul!” 

“Y-you better not, doc!” He yelled nervously as Heavy respawned with a groan. 

“See you later, Herr Sniper!” 

“See ya, doc.” He replied as Heavy and Medic left the clinically white respawn room. 

*** 

After our daily battle had ended, I walked to the Medic’s infirmary. As I walked through the swinging double doors, I saw my BLU counterpart, the Medic himself, and - quite surprisingly - our own RED Sniper. They all made idle chat as Medic gave the Sniper a bottle of unmarked pills and a handful of instructions. 

“Two a day, one after you wake up and one in the evening.” He said seriously, shaking the bottle. Sniper nodded, taking it from him. 

“Got it, doc. Thanks, mate.” He then noticed me at the door. 

“Oh, hullo, Spook!” He greeted, waving a calloused hand in my direction. This turned Medic’s attention towards me. 

“Ah, velcome. We vere waiting for you.” He then turned to Sniper. “You may have to leave for this, it is up to zhe Spy.” I gave the Sniper and the BLU Spy a devious smirk. 

“You will not have to worry, mon amis, I already know.” My counterpart gave me a stern look. 

“But you will not tell, no?” He asked, a seriousness in his voice. 

“Non, I will not, mon ami. Your secret is safe with me.” Sniper glared at me - looking me over for any sign of a lie - before nodding. 

“It better be.” He said gruffly. 

“Ja, vhatever. Let us get on with it, shall we?” The Medic huffed, obviously fed up with the continuous distractions. 

“Of course, Docteur.” I agreed. If this was truly as important as Medic said it was, then I want to know as soon as possible. 

“Alright, here it is. You, Herr Spy, and you, Herr BLU Spy… are brothers.” 

I felt myself freeze up as silence filled the room, shock on Sniper’s face as he looked at the matching horrified expressions on my counterpart’s and I’s faces. 

“...Non. Non, non, non. You have to have made a mistake, Docteur!” The only BLU in the room all but yelled, slowly stumbling backwards. Backwards, away from me. 

I, inturn, took a step forward. 

“...Lucien?” I asked him softly. He let out a half choked sob as he quickly turned, cloaked, and started running to the door all in the same quick movement. 

“Spook!” Sniper yelled, grabbing out in a much faster movement than I would have expected from the lazy bushman and grabbing my counterpart - my brother - by an invisible shoulder. 

His cloak flickered at the touch, showing us his outline. Though, I didn’t need to see him to hear the sobs tumbling out of his mouth as Sniper attempted to comfort him. 

I couldn’t believe this. How could my brother be here? I thought he had died while I had escaped-

A hand on my shoulder caused me to jump. I looked towards Medic, who was looking at the pair in concern. He sighed before looking at me, worry in his eyes. 

“What happened in your pasts, Herr Spy? What happened for this to be the result?” I shook my head. I couldn’t answer that unless I had Lucien’s approval. At least, he couldn’t explain what happened in depth. 

“I was made to torture him, at the start of the war. He thought I did it out of my own free will, but I was not allowed to tell him that I wasn’t.” He nodded, his hand still on my shoulder in a comforting way. I felt my heartbreak as the sound of the brother I had thought to be dead sobbed in fear of me. 

I turned to look at the other pair in the room. Lucien had at some point uncloaked, and had slumped fully into Sniper’s gangly - but obviously comforting - arms. The bushman was shushing him quietly as he sobbed into his shoulder, his breathing clearly heavy even from across the room. 

“Lucien?” I called him softly. He froze up in Sniper’s arms before looking up at me, fear in his eyes and a tremble running through him. 

“I am so, so sorry.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i’m not really that sorry. it gets better and then it gets worse.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> shit gets sorted out ig. i’ve added more tags too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i haven’t written anything over the last 2 days. haven’t started chap 7 yet :/

A quiet was heard, where the only sound was Lucien’s panting. The fear in his glistening eyes quickly turned to rage; anger burning through the snarl now on his face. 

“An apology does not make up for what you did!” He yelled, shoving Sniper and his comforting actions away. 

“I didn't do it willingly! They forced me to! I wanted nothing more than to escape with you, but I didn’t have a chance! I-I thought you were dead!” My voice was hoarse as I nearly screamed my excuses at him. 

“You- they made you!? What do you mean they made you!?” Lucien took a step forward, ignoring the Sniper as he tried to get between us. 

“The Nazis said that either I torture you, or they… or they u-use you for… for…” I choked on my words as they attempted to spew out of my mouth. I couldn’t bare to say what I had dreaded would happen to my younger brother. 

“Use me for what? Work!? I think I would have preferred that to being tortured, physically and psychologically, by my own fucking brother!” He was furious, but he was using that fury to hide his pain and fear. Fear of me. 

“Non, they threatened to use you for… for pleasure. If I didn’t do what I did to you, they would have tied you down and…” A sob left my throat as I thought back to what they had threatened me with. “I couldn’t let that happen. I-I had to, had to injure you, hurt you, so that they wouldn’t! They- the Nazis had said that if I hurt you, they wouldn’t. I couldn’t let them, what they would have done would have been so, so much worse.” My voice went from a scream to a rough whisper as another sob tore through my body. 

Lucien was frozen. He wasn’t breathing as he tried to process what I had said. Sniper, once again, tried to approach. 

“Shhh, breath, Spook, breath.” He took a shuddering breath as he flinched and turned to Sniper. “That’s it Spook, c’mon.”

“I-I-“ He looked back towards me. “...They lied to you.” This time, I felt myself freeze up. 

“...What?” I asked, disbelieving. Lucien took a deep breath and closed his eyes before sighing.

“You were not the only person to hurt me while I was there. A-and they… they had used me for “pleasure” a couple of times there too.” He admitted, looking away with embarrassment on his face. The other two in the room looked nearly as shocked as I felt. 

“They-“ anger was all I could think, all I could feel. No, anger didn’t cover it. Unadulterated fury coursed through my veins as my little brother, who I had thought had been killed, admitted that he had been raped by Nazis in the second world war. “THEY FUCKING WHAT!?” My screamed words echoed around the room, making the others wince. I attempted to move forward but was stopped by Medic. 

“Nein! Screaming about nozhing will only make this worse! Calm yourself, Herr Spy.” I didn’t try to struggle as I took a few deep breaths and closed my eyes, collapsing slightly against the doctor. When I reopened them, I noticed that Sniper had pulled Lucien into a hug and was whispering comforting words into his ear. 

It had been over 30 years since I had last seen my brother look so weak, his calm demeanour that he kept as the BLU Spy gone. He noticed me looking at him and opened his mouth, when a loud creak and two arguing voices coming from above us cut him off. 

We all looked towards the air vent running across the ceiling of the medbay as a pair of voices yelled at each other from within. Suddenly, the entire thing collapsed, causing two colourful figures to fall towards the ground. When they hit the ground hard, it became obvious that the pair were the two teams Scouts; my idiot sons. They groaned almost in sync as they immediately resumed their argument. 

“Dude, why did you start moving!” The RED Scout yelled. 

“The vent was creaking, we were gonna fall!” The BLU Scout argued. 

“It always creaks! We weren’t gonna fall until you started friggin wiggling!” 

“Oh, shit, really? Sorry then, dude.”

“Nah, it’s fine, bro.” 

It was then they realised that the four other people in the room were all now staring at them. 

“Uuhhh…” Jeremy said elegantly. 

“Were you… spying on us? I’m impressed!” The Medic announced with a wide grin. My brother joined in in the disappointed stare that the Sniper and I were giving the eccentric doctor.

“Er. Uh. Don’t do zhat again?” There was an incredibly sheepish tone in his voice as he weakly reprimanded my sons. Lucien chuckled. 

“They are definitely your sons… Rene.” He gave me a weak grin that I returned with a small bit more confidence. His eyes twinkled before he gave the Scouts - my sons, his nephews - a pinning stare. “How much of that did you overhear?”

The Bostonian pair gave nothing but matching sheepish smiles in return. 

“Uhh… so hey! You’re actually our uncle! Like, by blood and shit! Bio- uh what’s the word- log-i-cal-y! Yeah! That one-“

“Stop evading the question, Scout.” Lucien grumbled, cutting off Jeremy’s rambling. The twins looked at eachother, seeming to have a full conversation with just a couple looks, glances, and gestures. Finally, it was Jack who answered the question they had been asked. 

“All of it. We heard everything.” My brother sighed. 

“That is what I feared, but also what I expected. So you know? About what happened to me, what happened to my brother at the start of the war?” He asked them softly, giving me a glance as he mentioned me. He looked oddly… sad. Dulled down. Tired. 

It made me want to wrap him up in a hug and comfort him, just like I did as a child. I shook my head, pushing the thought into the back of my mind. I couldn’t do that, not in here at least. I sighed. 

“We are all tired after the events that have occurred here, as well as the battle we just finished fighting. Let us go and rest for a bit before dinner tonight.” The others either gave some sort of agreement or simply nodded as they began heading towards the infirmary doors. 

As everyone started to exit the room, I walked towards my younger brother and his lover. 

“Lucien? May I talk to you in my smoking room?” I asked him, causing him to give a slightly anxious look at Sniper before answering. 

“Oui, de cours. Are we going to head up now?” I shook my head and gave him a small smile. 

“Non, if you could wait outside the infirmary for a moment? I would like to speak to the Sniper in here.” The smile I was giving Lucien turned sickly sweet in a way that didn’t match the way the look in my eyes went from kind to a glare in a moment. My brother looked between us before nodding silently and stepping toward the door. 

Sniper gave me a nervous grin as beads of sweat started to form at his brow. I didn’t need him to remove the blocking yellow glasses to see his eyes to know that he was scared shitless of what was coming next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i’ve been busy lately as i’ve just started getting into the tf2 comp scene as medic.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> uhh look i don’t have the next chapter ready so idk when it’s gonna come out
> 
> also there’s a shovel talk

As the door shut behind Lucien, my overly sweet smile dropped. Sniper gulped as he saw the pure evil look on my face. 

“Lucien,” I spat out, startling the bushman, “is my younger brother. I am four years his senior, and thus it falls upon me to give you this talk.”

“A shovel talk.” A German voice cut in, making both me and Sniper jump. Medic was standing merely a few meters away, watching the pair of us with an unimpressed stare. 

“A… what?” I asked, confused. Medic shrugged. 

“It is an American thing, I believe. I saw it in a comic in zhe newspaper. It is when a person's father or older brother threatens to harm their child or younger sibling's lover. Generally, it is a daughter or younger sister, but, oh vell, I suppose.” Once his somewhat lengthy explanation is over, the room falls into silence. 

“Well, thank you for the interruption, Docteur.” I say sarcastically, before looking back towards the Sniper. “Now, as I was saying, as you have seen, Lucien is slightly... fragile, for lack of a better word. If you ever end up hurting him, I will make your existence living Hell. Do you understand, connard?” Sniper looked more than mildly terrified as I finished my rant, the effect slightly ruined by Medic’s muffled chuckling. 

“Uh, sure, mate. But really, aren’t you the cause of why he’s a bit… hnm, messed up ain’t the right term… traumatised? Yeah, traumatised. That’s the one.” When the half mumbled question was finished and he made eye contact with me, he realised what a mistake he had made. 

***

Walking out of the infirmary, I saw Lucien standing nervously by the door. He looked very out of place, being a BLU mercenary in the midst of the RED base. 

I heard the Sniper walk through the door behind me, a glum look on his face, along with crooked shades and a massive bruise. The Medic followed behind him, insulting him in German and telling him all in a variety of different ways how bad of an idea it was to say that. 

Lucien raised an eyebrow. 

“So, what did you talk to zhe bushman about?” I grinned at my brother as I lead him towards my smoking room. 

“Oh, just a warning about what will happen if he hurts you, is all. It is my duty as your older brother to do so.” Lucien actually stopped, giving me such an annoyed look that I actually started to laugh. 

“You don’t have to do that.” He said with a downtrodden sigh. My laughter stopped. 

“Come, we have much to talk about.” I changed the subject, grabbing his hand and dragging him the rest of the way. He acted much like a particularly petulant cat, as an unimpressed look formed on his face. 

“We are not children anymore, Rene!” He yelled while not actually looking that annoyed. I grinned. 

“But you will forever be my little brother. Now, come along, we have much to discuss.” He gave me a miffed look as he followed me into my smoking room. 

As we walked in, I took out my disguise kit and offered him one. 

“Cigarette, Lucien?” 

“Non, merci.” Apparently his base has also been trying to get him to stop smoking. I shrugged, putting the case back into a hidden coat pocket. 

We sat down across from each other in the two comfortable lounge chairs that sat in the smoking room. A thick silence flooded the room as Lucien avoided looking at me, instead fiddling with his tie and collar. I sighed, catching his attention; I knew I would have to be the one to start this conversation. 

“You are afraid of me.” He flinched back, eyes snapping to me. It wasn’t a question, but a statement that he just proved. 

“...Yes. I am. I simply can’t just forget what you did to me,” the ‘as much as I would like to’, was silent, but heavily implied, “whether it was willingly or not.” 

“I know, but I still hope that we can rekindle the relationship that we had before we were captured.” When I didn’t receive an answer, I looked towards my brother and saw he had his head down and his hands scrunched tightly on his knees, body so tense he was almost shaking. I stood in concern, a frown on my face. 

“Lucien?” I asked softly, much like I did in the infirmary. There was a pause before he responded. 

“...It still haunts my dreams, you know, what happened. What… what you did.” My heart felt like it had broken even more as burning guilt flowed through me. 

“If it makes you feel any better, it haunts mine, too.” He sighed, a faint smile forming on his face. 

“It doesn’t, not at all.”

We once again fell into silence. Though, it was a more comfortable silence this time. 

“As I said before,” I started, once again making Lucien’s attention flick back onto me, “I would like to be brothers once again. Life has… not been easy for me, and I assume the same applies to you. So what do you say, mon frere?” I ask, once again receiving a pause as he thought over my words. 

“...I think that that would be a good idea.” He finally lifted his head, looking me straight in the eyes. Eyes glistening as his smile widened and liquid dropped down his face. 

They weren’t sad tears, no, they were tears of joy. Of reunion. Of something neither Spy - neither brother - thought would ever happen. A recognition of what had happened, and a kindling hope for the future. They were tears of moving on, of putting the past behind us. And, most importantly, they were tears that were matched on my own face. 

Lucien stood up and wrapped his arms around me in an embrace. Neither of us would usually be described as ‘huggers’ but we could make an exception for just this once. 

I returned the gesture, tucking his head under my chin just as we used to do as children. Of course, as we were now the same height Lucien’s back bent awkwardly to fit into the position, but he didn’t seem to mind. He chuckled wetly. 

“It has been so long since we have done this! I missed this, Rene.” He admitted as a wry smile formed on my face. I was about to respond when a knocking on the door interrupted me. I gave an irritated look towards the door as I sighed. 

“Yes? What is it?” I asked snappishly, annoyed that we had been interrupted. 

“It’s… It’s important. I dunno what it is, but Medic said it was important.”

“And he also said to get ya two, so, ya know.” 

It was the Scouts. Jeremy had said that Medic said it was important, and the last time he said something was important, well… I looked towards my brother. He was staring at the door from our slightly awkwardly positioned hug. 

“It better be, Jeremy, Jack.” Lucien straightened up and brushed off his suit before starting towards the door. I followed suit. 

As the door opened to reveal the twins, I saw how serious they looked. 

“Where is he? Your Medic?” Lucien asked Jeremy, concern in his eyes. 

“Whole team’s in the meeting room, we were just sent to get you two.” Jeremy replied. 

“Well we better not keep him waiting then.” I interrupted, looking between the three others in front of me. Jack looked somewhat sheepish. 

“Yeah, we probably should.”

As Lucien and I followed the pair of brothers, I felt cold dread build in my stomach. As I took a glance at my brother, it looked like he was experiencing the same.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> it is time for a big announcement + some bonus blu scout perspective

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i’m not dead! and neither is this fanfic!
> 
> though this chapter was slightly lacking in angst making it boring to write kinda. it’s gina a get more angsty, though so dw.

As we joined the rest of the RED team in the meeting room, I noticed how out of place Jack and Lucien really looked. They both looked around the room nervously, subconsciously leaning towards Jeremy and I.

Some of the men inside the room turned to look at the small group that Lucien, Jeremy, Jack, and I made, before turning their attention back to the television that sat at the end of the long table. The Soldier grumbled something about BLUs watching top secret RED information but was quickly shushed by Demo. 

Suddenly, the television flickered to life to reveal Miss Pauling. 

“Hey, guys- wait, why are the BLU Spy and Scout there? Actually- it doesn’t matter. Look. Something really important happened. And- actually maybe the BLU Scout and Spy being there is a good thing, it might make this easier-“ 

“Spit it out, Pauling.” I interrupted her rambling. She looked embarrassed as she continued. 

“Oh, right, sorry. Anyways, I’ve already told the BLU team this.” She took a deep breath, as if what she was about to say pained her. “...Redmond and Blutarch Mann are dead. And you’re all fired.” 

This simple statement was followed by outrage, though it was hard to tell what angered them more. 

“Wha- whadya mean they’re DEAD?”

“Vhat! How vill we get paid!”

“What do you mean we’re fired, Maggot?! We cannot be fired! I DID NOT PERMIT IT!”

Despite the many complaints from the eleven mercenaries all staring at the screen, Miss Pauling was quick to attempt to soothe them. 

“Don’t worry, you guys are immediately being rehired by Saxton Hale!”

Sniper groaned.

“Really? That bloody piker!?” He yelled in despair. I attempted to cover my undignified snort by covering my mouth with my gloved hand. He glared at me in return, but didn’t say anything, merely crossing his arms.

“Uh, also,” Miss Pauling regained the attention of the mercenaries, “Redmond and Blutarch had a brother. His name is Gray Mann and he has robots.” We all went silent as we tried to understand what she meant.

“Robots?” Lucien spoke up, causing everyone to look towards him. Some of these looks were in fact glares, which made a sense of protectivity rush through me. Some of the RED team were very unhappy that the BLU Scout, and especially the BLU Spy, were spending so much time in our base. While they hadn’t said much besides grumbles, it was still very clear what geir true feelings were. Fortunately, Lucien either didn’t care or didn’t notice. Or, he could have been hiding how he truly felt about this animosity, which I hoped was not the case. “What do you mean ‘robots’?” He continued, causing Miss Pauling to grimace.

“As in, he has made a bunch of robot versions off you guys and is now going to start sending them to fight you guys to reclaim the company and steal the Australium. You guys are being hired to stop him, preferably by killing him and destroying the robots.” We, once again, were plunged into silence as we all stared at Miss Pauling. 

“... Vhen do ve start?” Medic asked. The grimace that was once on Miss Pauling’s face returned. 

“Now?” She said nervously. In shock, I yelled out. 

“What do you mean ‘now’! Did you not think to tell us earlier!” I readjusted my collar and continued. “Apologies for yelling. When did you find out about zhis new turn of events?” 

“Literally half an hour ago. And part of that time was spent telling the BLUs about this. So just. Chill out.” She said in a deadpanned way before sighing. “Anyways, I have to go. See you guys later! Oh- and you guys will be joining up with the BLU team to fight the robots! Just wait at your base and pack, I’ll be there to bring you to the new location soon!” After she was done with her rushed farewell, the television switched itself off, leaving no time for questions. 

“WHAT!? We have to work with those damned dirty BLUs!? I WILL NOT STAND FOR IT.” Our Soldier roared causing Demo to give him another miffed look. 

“We’ve had two o’ the BLUs comin’ by near daily, Sol, and they have nae dun anythin’. I dinnae ken what yer on about.” Soldier did not look happy with that reasoning. 

“THEY HAVEN’T DONE ANYTHING, HUH?! Like I’ll believe that! That Spy has been giving away RED secrets to the BLUs since day one! He’s a threat!” He yelled, whirling around to lean in close to Lucien with a pointed finger. My brother leaned back, expertly hiding a small flinch that most would not have noticed. Fortunately, I was not like most others. 

I stepped between the steaming American and my younger brother with narrowed eyes and a snarl on my face. 

“He has not done anything! Back off and leave him alone, sil vous plait.” That combined with a sharp tug on his shoulder courtesy of the Demoman was enough to make him back off with a grumble and a burning glare in Lucien’s direction. I felt him lean in next to me and whisper a thank you in my ear in French. Happy that the situation was dealt with, I stepped back, ready to deal with the fallout of packing everything we need into bags in some unspecified - but presumably short - amount of time. Then the Scouts stepped in. 

“Hey! Stop being such an asshole ta him, Solly!” Jeremy yelled, quickly being back up by Jack. 

“Yeah! He hasn’t done nothin!” The Soldier’s face turned red with rage as his breath came through his nose in a similar fashion to a bull’s. 

“I SHOULD TEACH YOU MAGGOTS A LESSON!” He hollered, ripping himself out of Demo’s grip only to be stopped by Heavy yanking him away from his charge towards the pair of Scouts. He, as well as Medic, who was standing next to him, both had murderous expressions in their faces. 

“Scheinhunden! Stop with zhe yelling und zhe bickering! Ve have to start packing! I may not vant to team up vith zhe BLUs to fight robots, but we do not get a choice.” Medic yelled, his german accent leaking heavily into his voice. Heavy nodded. 

“Doktor is correct. Need to pack before leetle woman arrives to take us away.” He announced, causing everyone else in the room to nod along in agreement with varying amounts of hesitance. I turned to Lucien. 

“You and Jack should probably head back to your base.” He nodded, turning to Jack and gesturing for him to come over to us. He walked over, Jeremy following close behind. 

“Yeah?” He asked, looking between Lucien and I. 

“We are going back to zhe BLU base to pack up our belongings.” Lucien explained. Jack groaned. 

“Ugh, I hate packing! It sucks!” He looked at Jeremy before looking towards me. “Anyways, see you guys later! Bye, Dad!” He then ran off, causing Lucien to give me one more quick smile before following after his nephew. I felt something swell up inside me when he called me Dad, but I studiously pushed it back down. 

Jeremy gave me a lopsided grin after the pair had walked off. 

“It’s pretty nice ta be an actual family, y’know?” He asked. I chuckled, my face matching his. 

“Yes. It really is.”

*** 

I was watching Spy as we slowly walked back to our base. It was sorta hard to see him as an uncle, but at the same time pretty easy? It was kinda hard to explain. Eventually he noticed me staring and gave me an annoyed look. 

“What is the staring for?” He asked. I noticed what I’d been noticing for quite a while; he sounded tired, and his hands had a bit of a- what was the word? Tremor! His voice had a little bit of a tremor as he talked in the fancy way that he and Dad talked in. 

“I dunno. You just seem kinda off, I guess.” He frowned. 

“Off?” He sounded confused and kinda wearily- er, weary. 

“Yeah! You sound all tired and stuff! I think it’s cause Solly’s being kinda a dick to you. I know he’s wrong, by the way, you’re not stealing secrets from RED.” I told him. He didn’t seem to be convinced. 

“I suppose he has a right to not want me there, I am a spy for the enemy team, after all.” I frowned. 

“But you’re not doing anythin’!” He, once again, didn’t seem convinced. 

We walked in silence for a couple minutes before I finally decided to speak up and ask him something. 

“Hey, can I call you Luc? I don’t really wanna call you uncle an’ just callin ya Spy seems kinda rude, y’know? I-“ I cut myself off when I realised that Spy had stopped suddenly. I looked back at him in concern. “You ok, dude?” I asked. He took a deep breath. 

“... Please do not call me that.” He said in place of an answer to my last question. I frowned again, the concern not leaving my face. 

“Ok, Spy, I won’t.” He stayed quiet. The rest of the walk back to the base was spent in silence, with Spy seeming more tense than before. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I had something wrong by asking, but I couldn’t think of what.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mvm time ;))
> 
> feb 8 2021: noticed how the first paragraph made no sense and changed it. also changed some words


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The two teams fight robots as one, but what happens after they go back to base only to realise they’re missing two people?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it’s like 1am and i wrote this in like an hour
> 
> also this ones sad

It had been only a week since the seven members of the RED Team - Engie had driven his pick up truck while Sniper driven his campervan - had been picked up by Miss Pauling in an old, cramped mini van. It had only been a week since both teams had uncomfortably merged into one in an unfamiliar location. It had only been one week since the new ‘team’ - which in reality was split into two extremely distinct groups - had begun fighting large amounts of robot versions of themselves. 

It had only taken one week for everything to go to shit. 

It had started out as a normal battle: eighteen incredibly tired mercenaries had stepped out into the battlefield to fight as one against evil, robotic versions of themselves. They had fought from the fairly early hours of the morning until it was late in the afternoon, nearly evening. Once everyone had regrouped and settled down, they realised something was very, very wrong. 

Only Sixteen mercenaries had returned; the BLU Spy and the BLU Scout were missing. 

It was pandemonium as multiple search parties were sent out to try and find them; they had never left anyone on the battlefield before, and the warning from Miss Pauling was fresh in their mind. 

“I can’t guarantee if respawn will work every time. The system is nowhere near as good as the one you had at your previous bases. Just try to respawn as little as possible, okay? I love you guys, all of you, and would hate to see any of you dead. Anyways, goodbye, guys.” 

They had taken her advice to heart, trying to stay alive much more than usual. Opting for less risky plays rather than ones that would guarantee success. Whenever someone did go from respawn, it would take much longer for them to respawn, and they would always be much more disoriented. 

… They hadn’t seen, nor heard from Miss Pauling since then. It had only been a week, but they were still worried. 

But, alas, for now they had much bigger problems to worry about. On the third day fighting, the robots had attempted to grab and possibly kidnap the RED Engineer. They had always tried to stay closer together after that, but there was only so close that some classes could stay to the main group. 

The possibility that my son or even my younger brother had been kidnapped by Gray Mann weighed heavy in my mind. He had only just gotten his brother back; he couldn’t lose him, not this quickly, not ever. 

Fear gnawed at my mind as the group that I was travelling in - that contained me, the RED Sniper, the BLU Demoman, and the BLU Sniper - walked closely to each other. The Snipers were glaring at each other, but the other team’s Demo’s eye was on me. I narrowed my eyes at him. 

“Yes? Do you have a reason to be staring at me?” I asked quietly, and rather defensively, all things considered. He furrowed his brows. 

“Lad, I can see how worried you are from here. I know what the pair of ‘em are ta ya. If I got told that me brother and me son were lying on a battlefield, injured, in pain, and alone, I’d also be worried. Ya don’t hafta bottle what yer goin’ through up; we ain’t gonna judge ya.” Concern was heavy in his voice as he spoke. I sneered in response. 

“I am not some child who needs to be dotted on. I am a fully grown man who can handle himself, thank you very much.” The (no longer) enemy Demoman frowned at me before opening his mouth to respond. 

“You two gonna stop your bickering so we can keep lookin’ or what?” Was what was heard instead. The RED Sniper had put a hand on my shoulder causing me to flinch as he casually butted into the ‘conversation’ that the Demo and I were having. I glared at his long, horse like face. 

“That discussion was not meant for the ears of a bushman, Bushman.” It was hard to tell because of the yellow glasses obscuring his face, but I was fairly sure that the BLU Sniper had just rolled his eyes at me. 

“If there’s one thing me n’ my counterpart can agree on: it’s that you two were bickering.” He grunted, looking in between and the Demoman, who looked like he wanted nothing to do with any of what was now going on. 

I clicked my tongue and threw my head to the side. I observed the junk filled landscape as the BLU to my side muttered something unpleasant about Australians and Snipers. 

It was then I noticed something blue out of the corner of my eye. 

My eyes widened as I realised what I was looking at, but before I could say anything, the RED Sniper beat me to it.

“It’s Scout!” He then broke into a run, going as fast as his lanky legs could take him toward where Scout lay motionless on the ground. This knocked me and the two BLUs out of our stupor and we were quick to follow. 

I beat the RED Sniper to where my son was laying prone behind a few wooden crates, and thus was the first to freeze up in shock multiple feet away. The others were very quick to find out why. 

His blue uniform was turning red with the blood that was leaking out of many - too many - wounds. We stood frozen as we took in his broken form. His right ankle was twisted at an unnatural angle, as was his left forearm. There was a massive gash spanning most of Jack’s midriff that was steadily leaking blood and staining the bare dirt beneath Scout crimson. He was also absolutely covered in bullet holes, each of which were dripping blood and helping cover the surrounding area red. His breathing was coming out in small, pain filled gasps as his half lidded eyes flickered to the group standing by him. He looked towards me, but it was hard to tell if he could truly see me past the pain. 

“... Dad… yer here… ya came f-for me…” He mumbled, every word sounding like it caused the boy immense pain. I fell to my knees by his head, the other standing like statues around us. I scoped his injured form into my lap as carefully as I could. He gasped in pain as he lulled his head to look me in the eyes. 

“... Of course I did, mon petit. We will take you back, Jack. Back to the base… w-where zhe Medic’s will ‘eal you…” My accent became thicker as distress sank into my words. He smiled up at me. 

“... Ya know that’s n-not g-g-gonna-“ he coughed, blood beginning to dribble out of his mouth. “Ya know that’s not gonna h-happen, Dad. I’m not getting b-back to base like this.” His smile turned sad, then non existent as his eyes unfocused and his breathing stopped. 

And for a brief moment, I forgot about the other three mercenaries, all standing silently in a semi circle around me. 

All I knew in that moment was that my son was dead, and that he wasn’t coming back. 

I screamed, deep from my throat as I tried and failed to process this. I had failed him. Failed him as a father, as a teammate, as someone he could turn to. I had failed, and my son had paid the price. 

Vaguely I could feel someone kneel down next to me and sling an arm around my shoulders. 

“It’s okay, mate.” The RED Sniper mumbled comfortingly into my ear, his breath hot on my masked face. “He’s gonna come back. He’s gonna respawn. He’s fine. You’re fine.” I felt my face become hot under my mask as I blushed; I, like a fool, had forgotten about respawn. I pushed myself up, and - with the help of Sniper - faced the two BLUs. 

“I apologise for you having to see that,” I started, embarrassment clear on my face. “I did not mean to-“ I didn’t know how to finish that sentence, so I simply just gestures vaguely. Demo chuckled. 

“It’s fine, lad. We’ve all forgotten about respawn at some point.” He reassured me. I gave him a weak grin in return. 

The walk back to base was spent in silence after I had rejected the others attempts at making small talk. 

And when we arrived back to see every other BLU and RED stood around respawn, watching as the BLU Scout regained his senses, with sombreness clear in our bodies, the others knew better than to ask.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one might be my favourite chapter now ;)
> 
> feb 8 2021: ghfjt the first like 3 and half (and a half!) paragraphs were in 3rd person for some reason? like it legit changed in the middle of a paragraph


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s revealed where the BLU Spy is and Rene and the RED Soldier have a fistfight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> rooming:  
> Room 1: RED Engineer and RED Pyro  
> Room 2: RED Demo and BLU Soldier  
> Room 3: RED Soldier and BLU Demo  
> Room 4: RED Medic and RED Heavy  
> Room 5: BLU Engineer and BLU Pyro  
> Room 6: BLU Medic and BLU Heavy  
> Room 7: RED Scout and BLU Scout  
> Room 8: RED Sniper and BLU Sniper  
> Room 9: RED Spy and BLU Spy

Jack looked at me sheepishly.

He was leaning against a wall, panting slightly at the exhaustion that this new respawn always seemed to bring. ‘I truly preferred the old respawn,’ I lamented in my head, ‘that one didn’t take over thirty minutes to bring us back to life.’ I pushed that thought away and met Jack’s eyes.

I had thought he had died. Permanently.

He hadn’t, though, and now the entirety of both teams were watching awkwardly as my son and I stared each other down in an equally awkward manner.

“Uh.” He started in a very Scouty manner. “I. Uh. Dad, you-“

“Please, stop talking.” On the surface it sounded insulting, but Jack knew it was a plea. I turned to the three who had been with me. “Do not tell anyone about what you saw today.” I commanded, garnering three nods in response. I looked back to the main group.

“We have much bigger things to be worrying about. Did any of the groups find my brother?” There was no response. The only one who said anything was the BLU Soldier, who muttered “his brother?” In a confused tone to his team’s Medic, who responded by rolling his eyes.

“No? Then we will have to look harder.” I instructed, about to turn and leave when I heard a familiar southern voice.

“Uh, Spah?” The RED Engineer stood by the door, a letter held tight in his human hand. I looked at him.

“Yes, Labourer?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. He held up the letter, revealing my name in fancy writing. My eyes widened as I reached to take it from him.

“It’s addressed to you. I think it’s from Gray Mann himself.” He explained, handing it to me. I inspected it closely, unnerved that Gray knew my name. Once sure that the letter was safe, I carefully opened it. The other sixteen mercenaries watched as I unfolded the peace of paper inside and began to read it.

_Dear Rene,_

_I hope this letter finds you well._

_As you have hopefully realised, you are missing a_  
_mercenary._

_The BLU Spy is with me._

_I know what he is to you, and hope you will agree to my terms:_

_You will help me to destroy Mann Co. and will assist me in tracking down all of the remaining caches of Australium._

_If you agree, you and your brother will be released free from harm._

_But, if you reject my offer or try and betray me, I will capture you and force you to watch me torture your brother to death, before you will also be killed._

_It is your choice, I hope you know what to choose._

_Sincerely, Gray Mann_

Cold terror rose through my body, growing stronger with every word I read. No one made a single sound as we all tried to process what I had just read.

Surprisingly, it was the BLU Heavy who was the first to say anything.

“WE WILL TAKE LEETLE SPY BACK FROM LEETLER MAN!” He yelled, causing the rest of the BLUs to join in. I looked over to Sniper, who was staring at the letter in my hands.

The RED Demoman stepped forwards.

“We’re workin’ as a team now, lads.” He said, getting the BLU Team's attention. Our Engineer walked from the doorway to stand next to him.

“Yeah, Demo’s right. We can’t afford to lose anymore men...” The terror turned to fury as my face twisted into a snarl. I stepped forward, ready to fight against them tooth and nail when the Engineer looked towards me and continued.

“... So the RED Team will be going with you.” I stopped where I was and slowly grinned, glad to have their support.

“I DO NOT REMEMBER AGREEING TO THAT.”

Unfortunately, it seemed as if all of the RED Team actually agreed. The angered snarl returned to my face as all eyes in the room turned to the RED Soldier. He grimaced, his eyes hidden beneath his helmet.

“I AM NOT GOING TO RISK MY LIFE FOR SOME USELESS BLU MAGGOT. AND I AM NOT GOING TO LET MY TEAM ATTEMPT TO SAVE SOME ENEMY FRENCHIE.” He all but yelled, looking around in defiance. I could hear Sniper mutter “your team?” under his breath behind me, and I knew without looking that he was almost as mad as me.

Engie grinned charmingly.

“Well, why don’t you take that up with good ol’ Spah over here?” He gestured towards me, and Soldier finally seemed to realise exactly how absolutely fucking livid I was.

He took a step back, I took two forwards.

Once I was too close for his comfort, he resumed his yelling.

“I DON’T KNOW WHAT KIND OF JURISDICTION OVER THIS TEAM YOU THINK YOU HOLD FRENCHIE, BUT I CAN ASSURE YOU IT THAT IT IS NONE!” He belted at the top of his lungs, taking many stomped steps forward and meeting me in the middle. I growled, my vision turning red as I swung a closed fist toward his jaw.

He took a step back, tilting his head in such a way that I could see his cold eyes staring me down. He returned my blow with twice the force behind it.

My vision went black and when I came to seconds later I was on the floor. Everyone had backed off once the fight had started, and I could hear my sons yelling cheers for me and insults to Soldier. Some put a hand on my shoulder, and I could hear the RED Sniper saying my name with concern. I shrugged him off and stood back up to my full height, making Soldier have to tilt his head back to meet my eyes.

It seemed that no matter how angry I was, the muscly all-American Soldier would beat out the underweight Frenchman.

But, I was a Spy. And if there’s one thing Spies are known for: it’s playing dirty.

In a smooth movement, I had pulled out my knife and slashed it across Soldier’s chest. His eyes widened and he snarled, attempting another hard hitting punch.

This time, though, I dodged, darting around Soldier and leaving a lengthy cut in his arm. He swung again, still aiming for the face.

Though this time, he hit me.

I collapsed as my head was thrown to the side. I lay dazed and motionless on the ground as Soldier put a heavy foot in my chest and reared back another fist. I blinked and suddenly the Labourer was yelling at Soldier, who was being held back by the BLU Heavy. I blinked again, and could now feel hands helping me to my feet.

Once I was released, I nodded a thanks towards Medic and tried my best to balance myself. Once I felt like I could walk without falling, I began shooing away any other hands trying to assist me. I looked around for the letter, and found it sitting in the middle of the floor. Weird, I didn’t remember dropping it. I grabbed it and hightailed it back to my room.

The housing was awkward, to say the least. There were nine rooms with two beds each, meaning that everyone had to buddy up. Most choose someone on their own team to share a room with, but many also going with someone from the other team. I suppose it didn’t matter now, since we were technically all on one team now.

I stomped into the last room at the end of the hallway; the room my brother and I were sharing. I slammed the door shut and reread the letter one last time. I wanted to rip it into shreds, but I knew that that wouldn’t help.

As soon as I had grabbed a bottle of cheap wine, I heard a knocking on the door. I sneered and yelled at whoever was stupid enough to knock, couldn’t they just leave my to my day drinking?

“Fuck off!”

“Dad, it’s us.” Was the immediate reply. The door then swung open to reveal the pair of Scouts.

“What.” I started, “do you want?” My voice was cold, but I feel that it was justified. My sons shared a look.

“We’re here to help!” Jeremy announced pushing past me into the shared room. Jack followed his lead, closing the door behind him.

“Help me with what?” I asked, causing them to share another look.

“We. Uh .” Jack started,” didn’t get that far.” I rolled my eyes, but couldn’t stay mad at my pair of twins.

“Fine. You may stay.” Jeremy grinned.

“Not like you could get rid o’ us anyways!” I gave him a blank stare.

I sighed, this was going to be a long night. All I could hope was that someone started in dinner soon and saved me from this torment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 8/03: edited a paragraph that mentioned the medigun


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A small bit of Lucien’s perspective and a plan is made to rescue him.

In the short hour of time there had been between and the Scouts forcibly entering my room and dinner being served, I had been just about ready to shoot both of them and then myself. 

They had bugged me about anything and everything, and wouldn’t let a single drop of wine - or any other alcoholic substance, for that matter - fall upon my tongue. It was Hell, and worst of all: I couldn’t even begin to fathom why they were doing this. 

Many ideas flowed through my head as I systematically tried to ignore my pair of twins. Did they want to get back at me for not being there for their childhood? Why now of all times then? Was it something else? I didn’t have much time to dwell on it as I was pulled out of my thoughts by Jack trying to give a screaming Jeremy a wet willy. 

It wasn’t until I sat down at dinner and everyone began talking that I realised what the Scouts were doing. 

Jeremy elbowed the depressed looking BLU Sniper in the side, which caused him to start talking. 

“... So. Spook.” He started, addressing me but not meeting my eyes. The others conversation quickly dwindles away, as this was apparently much more interesting. “We. Uh. We came up with a plan to rescue your brother.” He finally looked towards me, nervousness clear on his face. 

My brother. Lucien. Lucien, who was kidnapped and I didn’t even think about for the past hour…

… because the Scouts had been distracting me. 

I gave the pair an purposely unimpressed look, informing them what I thought. In actuality, I was rather impressed. Not that I would admit so, of course. 

I sighed, looking back at the increasingly nervous Sniper. 

“Well then. Let me hear it.” I instructed with a carefully constructed blank look on my face, not that I thought it would fool many of the mercenaries in front of me. 

The Sniper began explaining, but I was only half listening. I was too worried thinking about what was happening to Lucien. 

Yes, the snake had said we would leave harm free if I agreed with his plans, but somehow I doubted that Lucien was ‘free from harm’ right now. 

*** 

It had been towards the end of the battle when I felt something behind me while I was trying to sap a group of Heavybots. 

I had spun around, my gun in hand, ready to fight. But before I could react, a needle held in a metallic hand was stuck into my neck, courtesy from the robotic version of my brother standing in front of me. 

‘curious,’ I had thought. ‘All of the other robots were based on the BLUs.’ 

My knees then buckled, leaving me collapsing into the robot's cold, metal arms as my consciousness evaporated. 

When I awoke, I realised I may as well have kept my eyes closed. 

I couldn’t see more than half a metre in any given direction, not that I could turn my head with the way my neck was tied to an uncomfortable chair. 

The rope that tied down my neck had been used on the rest of my body as well, and I could feel ropes digging into my chest, forearms, shins, and thighs. There were also metal cuffs on my wrists and my ankles, with the ones on my ankles restraining each ankle individually to a leg of the chair I was seated in. 

At first I thought it was overly dramatic and unnecessary, but then I remembered that I was a Spy and could probably wiggle my way out of these binds. 

Or, I would’ve been able to do that if my head wasn’t pounding and my limbs didn’t feel like jelly. Being able to think clearly would probably help too. 

Suddenly, the lights flickered on, causing me to squeeze my eyes shut. Before I reopened my eyes, I heard the door open and footsteps approach me. The person chuckled before addressing me. 

“Don’t be so childish, open your eyes.” They commanded ominously. I opened my eyes, and felt them widen when I saw who was now in the room with me. 

Gray Mann looked down at me, the fluorescent lights in the room highlighting how old and ragged he looked. The smile on his sickly face made me shiver. This man looked like the textbook definition of evil, and he knew it. 

“Recognise me, do we?” He asked, more of those unflattering chuckles slipped out of throat as I sneered at him. 

“Get to the point. Why am I here?” I asked, trying to push down the fear I felt. 

“As a bargaining chip. I promised I would return you to your brother unharmed if he followed my requests, but we all know by that I meant ‘alive’.” His grin widened and he took a step forward, pushing my chin up with a single finger. 

I let out an audible gasp as my eyes went as wide as saucepans. He grinned down at me wickedly, taking pleasure in my fear. 

“You’ve been through something like this before, haven’t you?” I didn’t need to reply; the mortified look on my face and my rapidly speeding up breathing were answer enough. 

“Ah, well,” he chuckled, his voice dropping to a whisper, “let’s see how long it takes to rebreak you.” 

Then, the pain started. 

*** 

“What do you mean ‘We should wait until tomorrow’!? That man is torturing my brother and you want me to wait!?” I roared at the poor BLU Engineer who had made the mistake of suggesting we attempt to save Lucien tomorrow. Before I could throttle the shorted man, the RED Medic stepped in between us and put a hand on each of my shoulders. 

“Herr Spy. It is late und ve are tired. Ve need to be vully rested bevore- do not look at me like zhat - bevore ve do zhis.” He looked very unimpressed at the look on my face, which was definitely not a pout. The RED Sniper moved to stand next to Medic. 

“Docs right, Spook. We can’t just go in there when we’re all exhausted like this.” Most of the others nodded in agreement - the exception behind Soldier, who merely glowered harder. I sent a glare at the rest of the group, but knew there was no changing their minds. 

Afterwards, when everyone had started towards their rooms, Jack and Jeremy stepped in front of me. I gave them both a look of disdain, but didn’t say anything as Jeremy started talking. 

“Hey, Dad, you’re staying with us tonight.” I frowned. 

“Why?” Jack rolled his eyes like it was the most obvious thing in the world. 

“We ain’t just gonna let you sit in your room and stare at Lucien’s bed and drink! Don’t even try and deny it, you know it’s true!” I would never admit it, but they were right. Those were my plans for the night, no matter how much of a bad idea I knew they were. 

“Well then, where are the two of you going to sleep?” I asked, more interested in seeing their responses than anything. They both froze, the matching looks on their faces comical as they blinked owlishly. 

“Uh, we can share a bed! Like we did as kids!” Jack suggested, not noticing how I frowned beneath my mask. I missed most of their childhoods, and that was something I deeply regretted. 

The pair soon began loudly arguing over which bed they were going to sleep in and which I would be taking. I ignored them, lost in thought as my mind drifted to Lucien. I hoped that, whatever was happening to him, he was fine. Or, at least, as fine as one could be in a situation like that; I knew this whole thing would be incredibly damaging to Lucien’s PTSD.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yea my prediction skills for how long this was gonna be were wrong. it’s gonna take a bit more flouncing around to get to an ending just yet


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucien gets tortured as the Scouts try (and fail) to rescue him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: this chapter contains graphic torture. the first and last segments (separated by ***) are torture and can be skipped.

I squeezed my eyes shut in trepidation as I felt Gray Mann begin to cut off my suit jacket. Once it was no more than shredded fabric, he did undid the buttons on my white dress shirt, leaving it on me. I then heard him rustling around with the discarded fabric, causing me to open my eyes. He had grabbed my butterfly knife from my suit jacket and was now flipping it open lazily. Gray grinned, the smile on his face promising pain. 

And suddenly, the year was 1939, and the man staring down at me wasn’t Gray Mann, but an unnamed, low ranking guard. Suddenly, I was only a young boy, scared out of his wits. The man chuckled, and I could see my brother standing off to the side. I yelled out for him, begging as tears ran down my face. 

And he ignored me. 

The entire experience was a blur. I couldn’t tell whether I was in Nazi Germany or in New Mexico. Nor did I know who the man in front of me was: he changed every time I looked at him. All I knew was that I was scared, and that I wanted my older brother. 

I screamed as my ribs started burning, but I couldn’t tell from what. At some point I noticed that I was in a different position; that I had been released from the chair and was now lying on the floor. 

I panted, my breath catching in my throat. A low whine escaped me as my already abused rib cage was kicked once again, causing an audible snap to be heard. I screamed as he pressed down on the broken bone, causing burning hot pain to flow through me. 

My mouth filled with the taste of blood as a well aimed kick hit me in the jaw, sending me sprawling.

“Pathetic.” I heard someone growl out as they stomped on my left hand, shattering my fingers. I let out a bloodcurdling scream as I shook, attempting to curl into myself. 

I tried to sob, to beg, to do anything, but my head was slammed against the ground, causing my vision to go blurry. Another slam and I couldn’t see, my consciousness quickly leaving me as a man’s chuckling ran through my ears. 

***

Once we were sure that Dad was asleep: we snuck out. We had argued before we had this plan over who would stay and make sure Dad stays asleep and who would sneak out and rescue Uncle Lucien, before we came to the conclusion that we would both go. 

We may not have been Spies, but we were related to two of them. We snuck carefully out of the base, avoiding the night owls such as the Snipers and Engies. 

Once we were out of the base, Jeremy turned to me. 

“Wait, how do we know where Gray Mann even is?” He asked in a whisper. I rolled my eyes. 

“Dude, were you not listening earlier? He lives in a big building like a mile or so away.” Now it was his turn to roll his eyes. 

“Which big building? There are a lot of big buildings! Also, how’re we gonna get there? Bet you didn’t think of that!” He accused, his voice rising out a whisper. 

“Shut up! And it’s got ‘Gray Industries’ written on, we couldn’t miss it! Also, it’s literally a mile, we’re gonna walk, dipshit.” I insulted, causing him to groan. 

“Really, Jack? We’ve got to walk? Also, don’t call me a dipshit, chucklenuts!” Jeremy complained. 

“We’ve gotta save Lucien! You know what Dad said! He was tortured! It’s gonna be really bad for him if we don’t save him!” I replied, my voice rising in volume as we argued. 

Just as we were about to reply, we heard footsteps and froze. I saw a glimpse of a Sniper, and knew Jeremy saw him too. We nodded at each other, and started off to where our uncle was being held captive. 

Twelve minutes of jogging later, we arrived at a tall building. The words - just as I had told Jeremy - “Gray Industries” lay imprinted on it. It was so ominous and out of place that even without the engraving I knew it would have been the right place. Jeremy and I shared a silent look as we started towards the building. 

We had barely made it inside when the lights in the hallway we were in flickered on. We froze and slowly turned as a raspy chuckled sounded from behind us. 

There stood Gray Mann, with multiple robotic Heavies standing behind him. The whir from multiple mini guns being reved up was the only sound that could be heard as both parties stared at each other.

I quickly shook myself out of my stupor and pulled out my scattergun, pointing it at the unphased man as Jeremy copied my actions. My brother growled as Gray Mann smirked at us. 

“I would put those down, if I were you.” He took a step forward, causing the pair of us to both take a step back into something metal that definitely wasn’t there before. 

I barely had time to look up in shock before my weapon was yanked out of hands and I was being throttled. I threw a glance to my brother who was in the same position as I was; a robotic version of me strangling him. 

I gave one last gasp in a desperate attempt to breath before I passed out, acutely aware that Jeremy was doing the same. 

When I woke up, I could feel the bruises around my neck. I groaned as I sat up and looked around. I was in a cell, with Jeremy lying unconscious a few feet away. I scrambled towards him, shaking him lightly and receiving a groan in response. 

“Argh, five minutes, I’m tired.” He moaned, before opening his eyes and realising where he was. He shot up into a sitting position, his head nearly banging into mine in the process. “What the fuck- woah, the Hell is that?” He was pointing towards something in the back of the cell that I hadn’t seen before. 

“It’s a fucking television! Why the Hell is it in here?” I asked once I recognised the item. Jeremy was in the middle of answering my question sarcastically when it was answered properly by the sound of robotic footsteps. 

We both turned and saw a robotic version of Soldier. It observed us briefly before clicking a button on the remote in its hand. As it clanked off in the direction it came from, the television flickered to life, revealing-

“Lucien!” My brother and I both yelled, hurriedly running to the screen. 

He was unconscious, lying uncomfortably on the hard, blood soaked ground. He was covered in the stuff as in dripped from the many wounds that were all over his body. He was curled into a ball, with his ankle twisted at a weird angle and the fingers in his left hand looking mangled. He jolted awake when the door to his cell opened with a creak, a robotic Spybot walking through the door. 

The interesting thing, though, was that the Spybot was RED, instead of BLU like every other robot sent from Gray Mann I had seen. 

I looked over to my brother and we shared a glance. It was clear that he was thinking the same thing that I was. 

We turned back to the screen, curious yet also concerned as to what was going to happen. 

I should’ve known. 

*** 

I was startled awake hours later by the sound of a door. I sat up, disoriented. My body was on fire, and every small touch my ankle made with the floor sent jolts of pain through my body. I heard footsteps and looked up, gasping as I saw who was there. 

Rene stood at the door, a blank look on his face. I threw myself into a sitting position. 

“Rene!” I yelled, causing my already sore throat to hurt more. He walked towards me, unflipping his signature butterfly knife. He didn’t say anything as he slashed it across my face in a jolting motion. 

I drew back, my eyes wide. 

“R- Rene…?” He responded by putting an oddly heavy foot onto my rib cage and pushing me down. 

I screamed, my voice raw as my already broken ribs flared with pain. I panted, tears running down my masked face as he pushed down. 

“N-no, why, I-I’m s-sorr-y p-please please no d-don’t-“ He cut off my whimpering with a harsh punch to the face. The blows came again and again until I was back to lying fully on the ground even after he removed his foot. 

I sobbed as a whip he had taken out of his jacket hit me repeatedly in the chest, leaving a horrible stinging sensation. It got worse until I could feel the skin breaking, and could smell blood that had to have been coming from me. After what could have been minutes or hours, he stopped, making me relax slightly as I panted. 

I let out another primal scream as the knife was suddenly sunk deep into my thigh with very little resistance. Another thundering crack could be heard as he kicked me in the ribs and then left through the door.

I curled into myself, left hyperventilating and wondering what I had done wrong to invoke Rene’s rage. 


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rescue mission finally takes place! (it’s only 4 chapters late)

When I woke up, it was to the sound of the door being slammed open. I shot up, already reaching for my revolver before I recognised who was standing in the doorway. The BLU Sniper visibly sighed in relief before turning back to the hallway.

“Found the Spook!” He yelled over his shoulder, enticing many footsteps to approach the room. The RED Medic stepped into the room, pushing the Sniper out of the way. I frowned.

“What is wrong, Docteur?” I asked as he walked over to the bed I was sitting in. He waved me off.

“Bitte, call me Ludwig. Anyvays, ve thought you had run off to save Lucien by yourself.” He explained. I nodded, thoughtful.

“Non, I am not that much of an imbecile.” I noticed that the other bed was empty and frowned. “Speaking of imbeciles, where are the Scouts?” Ludwig frowned at the empty bed.

“HAVE ANY OF YOU SEEN EITHER OF THE SCOUTS TODAY?” He hollered towards the hallway, causing Sniper - who was still standing awkwardly in the door - and I to wince. He received only a variety of no’s from the other mercs as he groaned.

“It seems zhat it iz not you going out on a rescue mission by yourzelf, but ze Scouts doing so. Inability to zhink plans through muzt run in zhe family.” He complained, causing me to roll my eyes.

“Ugh, do shut up, Doct- Ludwig. I would not be so foolish as to go out on my own.” He grinned.

“Ja, maybe, but zhe Scouts on zhe ozher hand…” I pushed him away as I stood up.

“The Scouts are infamously stupid, but I am sure they can handle themselves.” I said, acutely aware of how unsure I sounded.

“Hate to tell you, mate, but they’ve probably gone and gotten themselves captured.” The BLU Sniper admitted, running the back of his neck.

“You’re probably right, stretch. Got another letter dismorning.” The BLU Engineer liked his head into the room, holding out a letter almost identical to the last one out to me. I snatched it from his hand and opened it, once again reading out what was written inside.

_Dear Rene,_

_Not only have I captured your brother, but your sons as well!_

_They may as well have just walked into my hands, for all the good their rescue attempt was._

_I have not injured them._

_Yet._

_I know what you are planning and have prepared accordingly._

_I will give you one last chance to surrender._

_Oh, and I have also disabled your respawn system._

_Please think about this carefully, you wouldn’t want the blood of your friends on your hands, would you?_

_Sincerely, Gray Mann_

I snarled, wanting to shred the paper as I looked up and saw the rest of the mercenaries stood crowded around the door. The RED Engineer pushed through the crowd and sighed.

“He’s not lying. Respawn’s down, and I can’t for the life of me figure out how to fix it.” He said solemnly.

You could almost feel the moral in the room dropping after that simple statement. I sneered.

“We will just have to try harder to not die, won’t we?”

***

Just over an hour later, almost the entirety of the two teams stood in front of a large building labelled “Gray Industries”. The only ones that had stayed back were the BLU Pyro, RED Soldier, RED Engineer - who insisted that he should come - to stay and protect the base while everyone else was away.

I stepped forward, facing the group. I sighed.

“I am not one for this motivational speech thing, but I will try. We are going to go in there and we are going to rescue my sons and brother. Kill any robots or people you see, but spare Gray himself. He is for I - and only I - to kill. If you get into any trouble, call for help over the headsets. But know, you are lower priority than Lucien, Jack, and Jeremy. Is that clear?” The group let out a collective cheer, most clapping and some even whistling.

I grinned, turning to the RED Medic and Sniper, who were standing closest to me.

“Ludwig and Mundy, you will be staying with me. While everyone else is hunting down Gray and fighting robots, we will be the ones to find our captured teammates.” Mundy looked startled at the mention of his name, but nodded along just the same. I turned back to the main group, getting their attention.

“Come on. The quicker we save them the better.” I began walking towards the entrance, the others following.

Fifteen minutes later, the sounds of carnage was all I could hear from the headset that everyone was wearing. That and screaming, insults, and screamed insults, which I’m pretty sure all fell under the label of carnage. I only kept it on due to it being necessary. We - Ludwig, Mundy, and I - had walked through many different corridors and until we found the section where the walls were lined with cells. We had even found the room where the weaponry and tools that belonged to Lucien, Jack, and Jeremy. Mundy was then used as a pack mule to carry everything, which he did with only a small amount of complaints.

As we meticulously checked every cell, I realised something.

They wouldn’t keep Lucien, Jack, and Jeremy down here. He would be in a much more secure area.

I explained my thoughts to Mundy and Ludwig, who agreed with the conclusion I came to.

We travelled for another five minutes or so before Mundy stopped us.

“Can you guys hear that?” He asked, causing Ludwig and I to freeze. I furrowed my brows in concentration, but I couldn’t hear what Mundy apparently could.

“Can we hear what?” I asked. Mundy frowned.

“The footsteps! I think it’s one the robots. Sure sounds like it.” He explained. I listened closely- there! I heard the faint sound of clanking not too far away from where we currently were.

“Oh, ja, I can hear it now.” Ludwig nodded, causing me to agree.

“So can I. It does not sound that far away.” I said.

“In fact it sounds like it iz getting closer!” Ludwig announced.

Then we saw it.

The robot turned out to be a robotic version of me, and suddenly I knew how the BLUs felt when we were fighting robots out in the field. I sneered at it, taking out my revolver and shooting it through the head before it could do anything. It collapsed, causing Ludwig to raise an eyebrow.

“I haff to admit, zhat vas razher disappointing.” I had to agree. Sniper looked over to me.

“Nice shot. Got ‘im right through the head.” I gave him a sly grin.

“Maybe I will have to try out being a Sniper, hmm?” He rolled his eyes.

“Don’t be so full of yourself. It wasn’t even moving; I could’ve hit that shot in half the time!” I chuckled as Ludwig kicked the thing in its head, looking thoughtful.

“I have never seen a RED one bevore. All of zhe ozhers haff been BLU.” I shrugged.

“I understand how the BLUs felt at first now. It is slightly… weird. To be shooting a robotic version of yourself, rather than your counterpart.” Mundy frowned at the robot's corpse.

“It’s more… realistic, too. All o’ the others have been real robotic looking. This one actually looks like you!... Sorta.” I glared at him as Ludwig chuckled.

“I do not look like that! Maybe you have to get a better pair of glasses, Bushman.” He shrugged.

“Looks a little like you, you have to admit.” I did have to agree, but I wouldn’t do so out loud. I was about to say something snappish in reply when the BLU Engineer’s voice could be heard over the headset, calling my title.

“Spah! Spah! We found ‘em!” He announced. I quickly flickered the microphone on, answering his call.

“You found them?! Lucien and Jack and Jeremy?! I asked, almost yelling as I couldn’t contain my excitement.

“Uh, well, we didn’t your brother. Only Jack and Jeremy, they were together.” I couldn’t help but feel slightly disappointed, but I was still glad that my sons were safe.

“Are they injured at all?” Ludwig asked.

“Nah, they’re fine, Doc. Not injured at all, but they did say they were hungry.” I chuckled.

“I see they have their priorities straight. Please, keep them safe until I return to them.”

“Of course, Spah. Ain’t no harm gonna come to your boys while I’m around.” I grinned, even though he couldn’t see me.

“Merci.” The Engineer tried to respond, but I couldn’t hear him over what Mundy then yelled out.

“There’s blood on the robot!” I gave a rapid apology to the Engineer, ignoring his protests as I turned off the headphones and microphone.

“Apologies, something has come up.”

“But-“

“What do you mean there is blood on it, Mundy?” I asked walking over where he was crouched down.

“There’s a trail of blood! Maybe we should follow it, it could lead us to…” He trailed off, not wanting to properly suggest whose blood it could have been. I frowned.

“... Oui, we probably should.” I turned and begun following the droplets of blood, the other two following behind me, not wanting to speak up.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this one is gonna hurt

I gulped as the blood ended up leading to a locked door. There was blood splattered over it, and it was almost confirmed what we would find inside. Or more accurately: who. 

I looked nervously behind me. Ludwig set a hand on my shoulder in reassurance as Mundy gave me an awkward smile with the same goal. 

I tried to stop my hands from shaking too much as I carefully picked the lock with a lock pick I had retrieved from my suit jacket. Once the door was unlocked, I set my hand on the handle. I glanced at the two men standing on either side of me, before taking a deep breath and gently pushing the door open. 

The first thing I noticed was the thick smell of blood, the metallic scent filling my senses for a brief moment. 

Then I saw him. 

Lucien lied in a crumpled ball in the middle of the floor, the ground around him absolutely soaked in blood. I could hear his much-to-quick breaths from here as he hyperventilated, each breath stuttering in his chest. 

I stood in horror, barely aware of the sharp intake of breath courtesy of Ludwig as I took in my brother's broken form. He didn’t seem to know we were there; his eyes were squeezed shut as tears ran down his face, getting caught in his balaclava. I stepped forwards. 

“Lucien…” I whispered, so quietly I wasn’t sure if he would be able to hear me. 

He froze up staring at me with a horrified expression on his masked face. It was then I realised he wasn’t truly seeing me; he was too lost in the thralls of his mind to see what was in front of him. 

His eyes met mine, and everything got worse. 

He scrambled backwards, begging softly as a trail of blood was left by a butterfly knife - one that was way too similar to my own to be a coincidence - that stuck out of his left thigh. He seemed ignorant of the many wounds covering his body; his only goal was to get as far away from me as possible. I took another brave step forward. 

“... Lucien. You are okay. We are here to rescue you.” I reassured him softly. It only ended causing my already hurt brother to flinch further away from me as he hit the back wall. 

“Non, d-don’t n-no, p-p-please, I’m s-sorry, I-I’m so-so sorry-'' He sobbed, body shaking from exertion and fear. I frowned in concern as I looked away, unable to see my younger brother cowering away from me once again. 

Mundy seemed to see my struggles and walked to stand next to me. 

“Spook? Love?” He called, trying to get Lucien’s attention. Lucien ignored him, only keeping his fear-blown eyes on me. It was almost as if my brother couldn’t hear or see anyone but me, but I still didn’t know how that translated into fear. The Sniper frowned. 

“I don’t think he recognises us. You’re the only one he’s responding to, go talk to him.” He shoved me towards Lucien, who whimpered as he saw me get even closer. I looked at Mundy as if he were a madman. 

“He is currently cowering away from me! I do not think going closer to him will help any!” I was barely able to stop myself from yelling at the Sniper, some part of me knowing he was just trying to help. 

“Try anyways.” He left no room for argument. 

I slowly made my way across the room, trying to block out the blood on the floor as I focused my eyes on Lucien. Once I was about a metre away from him, I stopped.

“Do you know who I am, Lucien? Do you recognise me?” I inquired gently, wanting nothing more than to wipe the blood off of his face, but restraining myself anyways. His begging became louder. 

“Rene- please, I-I didn’t mean t-to, I-I s-swear. I-I’m sorry, I’m s-so s-s-sorry. P-please, please, w-why-“ A sob interrupted his rant, desperation clear in both his eyes and his voice. 

I felt myself freeze. He did recognise me: and that was why he was scared. He was scared of me. 

My mind travelled back to the War. I remember seeing Lucien flinch away from me, the years of brotherly bond being ruined in mere moments as I was forced to torture him. I felt tears come to my eyes as the memories threatened to make me break down. I took a step back and let out a choked gasp. 

Luckily, I was freed from my mind by Ludwig calling my name. 

“Rene! Spy! Come, zhis is not zhe time!” He pulled me back by shoulder until I was next to where Sniper was standing and looking somber. 

“It’s you, Rene. He’s scared of you.” Ludwig explained, a hand holding tight to my arm. I snarled as rage boiled within me. 

“You don’t think I know that?! I was forced to! I didn’t want to hurt him! I didn’t want to hurt him!” I yelled, my rage only increasing when Ludwig flinched back slightly and a whimper from Lucien sounded out, both the cause of my yelling. Something in Ludwig’s eyes turned cold as he set a restricting hand on either of my shoulders. 

“Nein. Zhat iz not vhat I am talking about.” He shook me slightly for emphasis. “Zhe robot had blood on its hands. Zhe robot zhat vas coincidentally zhe only RED robot ve have seen! It vas a robotic version of you, Rene. Not your class, but you. Gray Mann designed it to make Lucien scared of you.” He sighed tiredly, watching as my eyes went wide in realisation. “You vill have to vait outside zhe door vhile me und Mundy attempt to calm him down.” I sneered while attempting to wriggle out of Ludwig’s tight grip. 

“You are going to separate me from my own brother!?” I accused, glaring at him with venom in my eyes. 

For Ludwig’s part, he looked very unphased at my spat accusations. 

“Ja. Exactly.” He then visably softened. “It iz for zhe best. We can not help Lucien if he iz too scared out of his own mind he hear us.” He explained, a hint of desperation in his voice. 

I looked between him and Mundy - who was standing still and quietly off to the side, watching us. I then sighed; I had made my decision. 

I turned and slowly walked to the door, not saying anything or looking back. I paused at the door. 

“Zhank you.” I heard Ludwig say, which spurred me to exit the room fully. 

As the door shut quietly behind me, I sank against the wall across from the door, put my face in my hands, and turned on my headset. 

*** 

When Rene had fully left the room, I turned back to Lucien, who had already begun to calm down. I hated seeing my lover like this; I could only imagine how bad it would be to see my theoretical younger brother in this same position. 

Lucien watched cautiously as I strode across the room and took a knee next to him. He shied away from me; flinching when I laid a hand on his shoulder. 

“Can you hear me, Spook?” I asked him in a deep, rumbling voice. He nodded softly in reply. I sighed in relief. “Ok. Ok, that’s good. Now, I’ve got a friend over here. He’s a doctor, a nice one. He’s gonna help you, ok?” Once again, I received a soft nod in reply. Ludwig took that as his cue to approach. 

He wordlessly kneeled down on Lucien’s other side, grabbing various medical supplies from his uniform coat. He hesitated before speaking, as if he knew what response his accent might provoke. 

“... Ok, Lucien. I need you to trust me. I am going to do nozhing but patch you up, ok?” Lucien flinched slightly, looking back to me in reassurance. I nodded, grabbing and giving Lucien’s hand what was a hopefully reassuring squeeze. He looked back to Ludwig and croaked out a reply. 

“... O-ok.” The Medic smiled nicely. 

“Zhat‘s good. Danke.” He grabbed a roll of bandages and grabbed the hilt of the knife that was buried in Lucien’s thigh. He whimpered, leaning into me. 

“Shh, shh, yer ok, Luc.” I had never called him by a shortening of his name before, and thus would not know that I would receive this reaction. 

Lucien froze, his head then whirling around to glare at me. 

“D-don’t- do not call me that.” He demanded, shocking me. 

“... Ok, I won’t.” I should’ve left it at that, but I couldn’t help myself. 

“Why can’t I call you that, Love?” I murmured, stroking his hand. He looked down and was quiet for a moment, and for a second I thought he wouldn’t answer. 

When he did reply, it was so quiet I almost didn’t hear. 

“Only Ren can call me that.” I frowned. 

“Ren? Rene?” I asked. He nodded in response. 

“O-oui, he is the one who-who did this to m-me.” He explained, cashing me to gently shake my head. 

“He’s not. That was a robot who was made to look like him.” Lucien looked shocked, his eyes wide. I continued on. “He doesn’t want to do anything other than to look after you. To make sure yer ok, Love.” Lucien shook his head. 

“No-no, that c-can not be-“ 

“It iz. He does not vant to do anyzhing to you, I swear it.” Ludwig intercepted, his voice calming. Lucien seemed to consider what he was saying. 

“A-are you sure?” He asked, fear in his voice. I nodded. 

“Can he come in? He wants to see ya.” He hesitated, before nodding softly. “Alright, Love. I’ll tell him you want to see him. I’ll be back in a sec, I promise.” I walked to the door, slowly pushing it open as I called Rene’s name. 

“Rene? Wha-“ My eyes widened as I took in the scene in front of me, unable to move because of how shocked I was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it gets better now i swear


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rene is perfectly fine I swear-

“You.” I growled, glaring at the man who was standing over Rene. 

Gray Mann looked at me, and laughed.

“What is one Sniper going to do against me?” He stepped forward, a revolver held tight in one hand. “Especially in such a close range fight?” I shot a glance at Rene. 

He was slumped against the wall unconscious. His headset, revolver, and cigarette case were all dumped in a pile not that far away, but still out of reach. I heard a whirring behind me and spun around. 

Two Scoutbots stood in the hallway, aiming their scatterguns at me. In a quick movement I grabbed both of the human Scouts scatterguns - which I had honestly forgotten I had in me until now - aimed, and shot twice. I had managed to hit and ‘kill’ both of the robots, but it was a rough job. I wasn’t used to using the weapons, and it showed. 

“Maybe you should make some better… robots…” I had turned back around to face Gray, and saw him aiming the revolver at me. 

“Put the guns down, or I will shoot.” He said calmly, his voice raspy with age. I slowly put the scatterguns down, keeping my eyes on Gray Mann. 

When the familiar click of the safety of a gun, both Gray and I turned and looked at Rene, who was now sitting up and aiming his own revolver at Gray. The third Mann brother snarled, his attention now off of me. 

I took my chance, tackling Gray to the ground by his waist as he fired off a shot towards Rene. I heard the Spy scream, but didn’t have time to look as I grappled the revolver out of Gray’s hand and put it to his head. He smirked and opened his mouth, clearly going to say something sarcastic. 

I didn’t let him as I put a bullet through his head. 

As his lifeless form slumped back, I ran over to Rene. He was holding a tight hand over a bullet wound in his gut. I heard the door open behind me, and saw Ludwig and Lucien looking at the situation in shock. 

“Help me, Doc! Rene’s bleedin’ here!” Ludwig shook himself out of his shocked stupor as hurriedly placed Lucien into my arms and kneeled down next to Rene. 

I held Lucien carefully against my body, moving away from the other two so that Ludwig had some room to work with in the cramped corridor. The Spy in my arms was leaning against me bonelessly, his breathing slow and his eyelids drooping. I frowned, not sure if Lucien should be sleeping but also not wanting to ask Medic any questions while he was busy. 

He looked up at me with big, sad-looking eyes. 

“Is he going to be alright?” He asked, shuffling closer to me as I sat on the ground. 

“Rene?” I asked softly, as to not end up getting said Spy’s attention. Lucien nodded, burrowing his face into the space near my collarbone. 

“Yeah, he’ll be alright. He’s gone through worse and lived; I’m sure he’ll be fine.” I didn’t sound as sure as I was trying to portray, but Lucien was way too out of it to tell. He sighed, and I felt him slump against me. I looked down and realised he had fallen asleep. 

I shook him slightly, concerned and wanting to wake him up. 

“Nein, Mundy. He iz fine, let him sleep.” Ludwig’s voice got my attention. He was supporting Rene as they attempted to stand, and he sounded incredibly tired. I nodded, turning on my headset after realising we would need some help to carry the injured Spies back to base. 

“Hey, could we get some help? We’re… somewhere. Where are we again, Doc?” He shrugged with one shoulder, before turning back to Rene. “Uh, yeah. There’s a dead Spybot near us, so if you see it then we’re around there.” 

***

I groaned. I was incredibly tired, as it turned out quite a few of the others were also injured, including the other Medic. 

Meaning I had to patch up the others alone. 

I found myself missing my medigun almost everyday, but it was much worse today. 

Among the injured were - of course - Rene and Lucien, both of whom were unconscious the entire way back to the base. The BLU Medic, RED Heavy, RED Demoman, BLU Sniper, and even Jack were also injured. This led to all of the infirmary’ half a dozen beds being full, with the Spies sharing the biggest one. 

I checked over the others before wandering over to where the brothers were both asleep. The BLU Medic and RED Demoman were both unconscious, their wounds debilitating but not fatal. The BLU Sniper was in a bed, looking rather annoyed. His leg had been snapped, and was now covered in an ugly cast. The RED Heavy was sitting up in bed, accepting the many bandages covering him. Jack was asleep but not unconscious, his arm broken and the rest of his wounds fairly superficial. 

I rested my gloved hand on Lucien’s shoulder. The blanket that was in the bed had been kicked down until it was by the end of the bed, revealing how Lucien was curled into a ball unconsciously. His legs were tucked up fairly near his chest and his head was curled until it was nearly hitting Rene’s chest. Both of his hands were pushed in between the buttons of Rene’s bloodied dress shirt and his face was curled into a frown, a tuft of brown hair poking through the cut in his balaclava. His own shirt had had all but the top three buttons done up, but it was still stained red. Many injuries were on display, though all had been bandaged up. 

Rene - on the other hand - was lying straight in the bed, his face peaceful and also actually on the pillow. His suit jacket had been removed, revealing the large blood stain on the bottom front of his once white shirt. He was on the left side of the bed, so it was his right hand that he had resting on Lucien’s back, drawing him slightly closer. The sheet on the bed beneath the pair had been stained with blood, which was going to be a pain to try and wash out. 

I looked down, and realised that Rene was waking up. 

***

I awoke slowly, feeling drowsy and slightly sore. The last thing I remembered was Ludwig trying to help me stand, and the last thing I saw before I collapsed unconscious was Lucien tucked against Mundy’s chest- Lucien!

I opened my eyes, sitting up gingerly. The first thing I saw was Lucien, who was still asleep. I gasped, pulling him closer to me as I sat up straight. 

“Nein, Herr Spy. You should continue resting.” Ludwig intercepted, attempting to push me back down. I glared at him. 

“Non, Docteur. I must make sure my brother is alright.” I curled around my younger brother protectively, causing him to stir.

I leant back slightly to watch him. He blinked drearily, before letting out a shaky breath. 

“... Rene?” He murmured, looking up at me. I smiled softly. 

“Oui. Yes, it’s me. I’m here Lucien.” I pulled him into a hug, tears in my eyes. He buried his head in my shoulder as he sobbed, his arms wrapping around me in return. 

“You came for me… y-you-“ 

“Of course I came for you! You are my brother. I am never going to abandon you. Never.” I rested my head against his, gently rubbing small circles on his back with my hand. He clutched me tightly, merely sniffling now. “Shh, shh, hush now. I will stay with you until the war ends, and then every day after that.”

“Actually, zhe war iz over.” Ludwig made himself known again, causing me and Lucien to look over to him. “Gray Mann iz dead, az are most of zhe robots. Mizz Pauling called zhe base just before to tell uz, well, that ve vere fired, technically. But zhat means zhat be can go. Some of zhe ozhers have already left.” He explained. 

“So… we can leave? We are no longer required to fight?” I asked in disbelief. He nodded, smiling gently. 

“They awake, Doc?” Mundy stood in the door grinning like a fool when he saw us. He propelled his gangly limbs forward, standing next to Lucien and placing a hand on his back. 

“I permit you to leave, but pleaze do take it easy. Oh, and stay in touch. Heavy and I are going to be staying in his house in Russia, you already have the address. Now, I am going to have a nap. Do not forget your Scouts, I do not want them” And with that, he left the room, leaving our small group of three. 

“Dad! Lucien!” 

Make that four. 

Jeremy ran into the room with a yell, startling Jack awake. 

“Huh- wha-“ The ex-BLU Scout saw that Lucien and I were awake, and stumbled out of his bed. They both ran to our bedside, crowding us. I glared at them until they stepped back. 

“Let us get up! Then, pack your things. I have a large house in back in France, we will be staying there. Yes, even you, Mundy.” I tacked on, noticing the nervous expression on his face. 

“Alright, Dad. One group hug first?” Jack asked nervously. I rolled my eyes. 

“Fine. Only if Lucien is ok with it.” My brother nodded into my shoulder, and I gave the ok. 

Once in the arms of my whole family, I realised how nice this was, and how much I truly missed it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow. there’s only the epilogue after this. this is the last actual chapter. it’s kind of saddening tbh


	15. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the final part. six months later, everything’s starting to get better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i’d just like to say thank you to everyone who has stuck around so far. i’m glad this is done, but also slightly sad. as i’ve said before, this supposed to be only 10 chapters long, but well. it’s 15

My mind was a jumbled mess of pain. I saw flashes of many things, all of them hurting me in some way. 

I saw my older brother as a teenager, standing over me with a bloodied knife and a pained expression. 

I saw a prison guard, a swastika on his sleeve and a grin on his face, as I sobbed, feeling dirty. 

I saw an old man coloured grey surrounded by robots. 

I saw my brother - an adult now - standing over my sobbing, pained form as I begged him not to as he ignored my cries. 

I saw - Mundy, who had just shaken me awake. 

I shot up, gasping desperately as I wrenched myself from my lover’s grasp. Breathing deeply, I released my tight grip on the blankets we shared. He hushed me, attempting to comfort me. 

“Shh, Love. I got ya. Yer okay here, no one can hurt ya.” He - with carefully telegraphed movements- slung an arm gently around my shoulder, rubbing circles into my back. “Even if someone tried, they would have to go through me and your brother. Don’t think anyone could survive that.” He joked, trying to cheer me up. 

I chuckled, before biting my lip. He grinned softly at me. 

“C’mon, Love. The others are waiting fer us downstairs.” He shoved the covers off of himself, rolling out of bed with a groan. 

It had only been a mere six months since all five of us - Mundy, Rene, Jack, Jeremy, and I - had moved into a mansion in France that Rene owned. We were happy here, but there were a few hiccups. 

One of these hiccups was the fact that I had nightmares multiple times per week. 

Fortunately, though, this was getting better. I wasn’t waking up and immediately being plunged into a panic attack, which I would definitely count as an improvement. 

I got out of bed gingerly, reaching for my closet. Technically, it was our closet, but almost everything in there was mine. Mundy grabbed me and hugged me close. 

“None of that. I was told to bring you down stairs as soon as you woke up.” He pushed me gently in the direction of the door. I rolled my eyes. 

“Fine, but there had better be a good reason for this.” I turned, walking to the door as Sniper followed. 

Once I walked down the stairs, I stood still in shock. 

Banners had been hung, all of which reading “Happy Birthday Lucien!”. There were multiple wrapped presents sitting on the ornate table in the middle of the room, alongside a cake. 

Jeremy and Jack were both wearing party hats, and were smiling at me like fools. 

Rene stood in front of me, his hands behind his back and a large grin on his face. 

“Bonne anniversaire, mon frere.” He whispered softly as tears sprung to my eyes. I opened and closed my mouth many times, unable to think of the right words. Eventually, I managed to ask something. 

“... It’s my birthday?” 

Everything seemed to freeze. Both of my nephews’ eyes had gone wide, and Rene looked equally surprised. 

“You didn’t know?” He asked, his voice soft but shocked. I felt embarrassed. Mundy stepped next to me, placing an arm over my shoulder in a similar fashion to how he did just before. 

“We don’t blame you for it, Spook. You’ve been through a lot in yer life. Probably didn’t have to be remembering things like birthdays.” He spoke, a wide grin on his face. I smiled, untangling myself from him. 

I stepped forward, then wrapped Rene in a tight hug. I buried my face into his shoulder and grinned. Tears were falling from my eyes, but I didn’t care. 

“Thank you.” I whispered. He returned my embrace, hugging me with the protectiveness that only a big brother experienced. 

I let him go, stepping back and looking at the twins. They wore matching grins as they all but skipped over to me. 

“Happy Birthday, dude!” Jeremy yelled, suddenly hugging me around my middle. I let out a surprised gasp as Jack squawked. 

“Hey! I wanna hug him too!” He tried to shove Jeremy off of me, successfully doing so only to be tackled.

As the pair wrestled on the ground, Rene stepped forwards, a frown on his face. 

“You two!” He yelled, causing me to wince. Rene didn’t notice this, but Mundy apparently did as the ex-sniper then wrapped an arm around me, pressing his forehead against mine. “Get up off of the floor! I do not want you embarrassing yourselves on Lucien’s birthday!” 

They looked up at him forlornly, giving him identical puppy dog eyes. I giggled slightly, regaining his attention. 

My older brother’s tough expression dropped as he saw me. Slowly, his grin matched mine as the boys started arguing again. I watched in amusement as Rene rolled his eyes before resorting to pulling the young adults squabbling on the floor apart manually. 

“Alright. Up, off of the floor.” They ignored him, seemingly purposefully. He tried a different approach. “Fine, how about this? If you do not get off of the floor and stop acting like children you will not being having any of the cake.” 

I laughed, and so did Mundy. Neither of us had ever seen two grown men stand up so quickly because of something so trivial. Jack looked at the serious expression on his dad’s face. 

“We’ll be good! Or, at least, I will. I can’t say anything for Jeremy here!” He shoved his brother, who responded by elbowing him in the ribs. Rene rolled his eyes once again. 

“What did I just say?” He said, exasperation clear in his voice. I laughed harder, my ribs starting to hurt before I called out. 

“Come on, now!” I said loudly, getting all of the others' attention, “it is my birthday cake! I should be the one to say who does and who does not get some!” Rene let out an ugly snort at this, causing me to laugh even harder. 

Somewhere, deep in my mind, I realised that this was the best I had felt in years, if not decades. 

My life was finally going for the better; it had only taken 43 years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i’m also going to be writing another long chaptered fic pretty soon, i just didn’t want to start it while i was still writing this. i’m also going to be releasing a couple side fics to this which will come out soon


End file.
